Musk Trust Settles SEC Twitter Disclosure Suit for $1.5M

Elon Musk settled a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit accusing him of delaying disclosure of his initial stake in Twitter, now known as X, with a trust in his name agreeing to pay a $1.5 million fine, according to a court filing Monday in Washington, D.C., federal court.

The settlement, which requires approval from U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, resolves the agency's January 2025 complaint without Musk admitting wrongdoing. The SEC had alleged that Musk waited 11 days too long to report accumulating a more than 5% stake in late March and early April 2022. Regulators claimed the delay allowed him to purchase over $500 million in additional shares at lower prices, saving him approximately $150 million at the expense of other investors. Musk described the delay as inadvertent.

"This is the largest civil penalty in SEC history for failure to timely file under Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act," a person familiar with the settlement told Reuters. Musk will not have to repay the alleged savings.

The agreement ends a series of legal clashes between Musk and the SEC dating back more than seven years. In 2018, the agency charged him with securities...